“Desperado” Remixes OUT NOW!

Rihanna has now released another batch of singles promoting her latest album ANTI. This time you can listen to “Desperado” remixes!

“Desperado” was written by Mick Shultz and Rook Monroe. After visiting Rihanna’s home, Shultz was contacted a week later by the singer’s team who stated “she really loves the record”. “Desperado” contains a “mid-tempo groove, bell ringing and shuddering drums, along with deep synths and vocal samples. The song features additional background vocals by James Fauntleroy.

Rihanna named Apple Music’s most-streamed female artist

Rihanna has added another major achievement to her collection of accolades, and set a new standard for streaming in the process.

The pop star, beauty boss, and fashion mogul has just crossed the 2 billion mark for worldwide streams on Apple Music. She’s the first female artist to do so — she hit the milestone on International Women’s Day, no less — and tops Apple’s Top 20 Women in Streaming list as well.

Rihanna immediately shared her excitement and gratitude on social media, and opted to express herself not only with some humble thanks, but a perfect clip for the occasion.

Rihanna wins at 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards

The 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards took place in Los Angeles this weeekend. Although Rihanna did not attend the show, “Wild Thoughts, her collaboration with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller, won Hip-Hop Song Of The Year.

“Birthday Cake” named by Billboard the greatest interlude of all time

Billboard named Rihanna’s indeed iconic “Birthday Cake” as the greatest interlude of all time. Read below what they said and watch some of our favorite performances of the song:

To be fair, Rihanna did release an (arguably unnecessary) full-length remixed version of “Birthday Cake” with Chris Brown in 2012. But it’s the barely-a-minute original interlude from the year before that really endures. By that point, Rih had graduated from a singer whose musical identity hadn’t been entirely formed, to one audibly growing more confident with each release. Sixth LP Talk That Talk dropped in 2011 as her most assured to date: Here was an artist openly embracing her sexuality, and remaining, well, unapologetic for it — long gone were the days of sampling Soft Cell for kitschy dancefloor bangers and delivering hard-edged vocals about second-guessing her infidelity.

“Birthday Cake” came at a time where she felt like she was still coming into herself, but it was the baddest, fullest version of Rihanna yet. Talk That Talk was as varied as Loud and Rated R, and the songs felt more assured and experimental — “We Found Love” was exuberant, EDM-heralded megapop, while further down the tracklist, “Watch n’ Learn” incorporated island riddim into an R&B-lite hip-swinger. And in the middle of the fray, “Birthday Cake,” all guts and glory. At 1:18, the interlude is cocky, overtly sexual and entirely hinged on innuendo — “It’s not even my birthday, but he wanna lick the icing off,” she offers with a knowing grin. For one of the first times, Bad Gal RiRi was in full display, unabashedly who she was without a single fuck given, all set to an aggressive, handclapped intermezzo on a whopper of an album. She hasn’t strayed too far from that Rihanna since, and the world is better for it. — S.J.H.